2005 DODGE SPRINTER brake

190 STARTING AND OPERATING
WARNING!
Take into consideration that when towing a trail-
er, the handling characteristics are different and
less stable from those when operating the vehicle
without a trailer.
It is important to avoid sudden maneuvers.
Sudden maneuvers may lead to loss of control
over the vehicle-trailer combination. This could
cause an accident resulting in property damage or
injury to you or others.
CAUTION!
If the transmission hunts between gears on
inclines, manually shift to a lower gear (select
"4",
"3", "2" or
"1"). A lower gear and reduction of
speed reduces the chance of engine overloading
and / or overheating.
When going down a long hill, shift into a lower
gear and use the engine’s braking effect. Avoid
riding the brakes, thus overheating the vehicle
and trailer brakes.
If the engine coolant rises to an extremely high
temperature (coolant temperature needle
approaching the red zone) when the air
conditioner is on, turn off the air conditioner.
Engine coolant heat can be additionally vented by
opening the windows, switching the climate
control fan speed to high and setting the
temperature control to the maximum hot position.

STARTING AND OPERATING 191
5
Parking a Trailer
CAUTION!
Extreme care must be exercised since your vehicle
with a trailer will require additional passing
distance ahead than when driving without a
trailer. Because your vehicle and trailer is longer
than your vehicle alone, you will also need to go
much farther ahead of the passed vehicle before
you can return to your lane.
WARNING!
To reduce the risk of personal injury, or damage to
the vehicle powertrain, as a result of vehicle/trail-
er movement, always:
Keep right foot on brake pedal.
Shift gear selector lever to position
"N".
Have a second person place wheel chocks on
downhill side of left and right trailer wheels.
Slowly release brake pedal and let vehicle and
trailer roll into chocks until stopped.
Firmly depress parking brake pedal.
Move gear selector lever to position
"P".
On inclines turn front wheels towards the road
curb.

198 WHAT TO DO IN EMERGENCIESCHANGING THE TIREIf you get a flat tire while driving, gradually decrease
your speed. Hold the steering wheel firmly and slowly
move to a safe place on the side of the road. The
pressure of the spare wheel always has to be checked
regularly (at least after every tenth time at the filling
station).
WARNING!
Only certain tires meeting the tire size/load/speed
rating specifications contained in the Tire Pres-
sure Tables are certified to conform to FMVSS 120
for the Sprinter vehicle at this time. Please check
your side walls of your originally equipped tires
for specific makes/sizes, and speed load ratings
when you need to replace your tires.
To prevent accident, injury or possible death, use
only the correct tires for your tire replacement.
WARNING!
The jack is designed exclusively for jacking up the
vehicle at the jack take-up brackets built into ei-
ther side of the vehicle. To help avoid personal in-
jury, use the jack only to lift the vehicle during a
wheel change. Never get beneath the vehicle
while it is supported by the jack only.
Keep hands and feet away from the area under the
lifted vehicle. Always firmly set parking brake
and block wheels before raising vehicle with jack.
Do not disengage parking brake while the vehicle
is raised.
Always use the jack on a level surface.
Do not change wheels on either steep uphill or
downhill grades. Be sure that the jack arm end is
fully seated in the jack take-up bracket. The
vehicle may begin to move and fall from the jack
which could cause serious or fatal personal injury
and property damage.
Always lower the vehicle onto sufficient capacity
jack stands before working under the vehicle.

WHAT TO DO IN EMERGENCIES 199
6
Procedure:
1. Park the vehicle on a firm, level, non-slippery surface.
2. Switch on the hazard warning flasher switch, apply the parking brake, and place the transmission
selector in "P".
3. Everyone must leave the vehicle before you jack it up.
4. Everyone must leave the danger zone, before jacking the vehicle. 5. The vehicle must be safeguarded in accordance
with legal regulations (such as using a warning
triangle).
6. Prevent vehicle from rolling away by blocking wheels with wheel chocks (not supplied with
vehicle) or sizable wood block or stone.
On a level road, place one chock in front of and one
behind the wheel that is diagonally opposite to the
wheel being changed.
When changing a wheel on mild uphill or downhill
grades, place chocks on the downhill side blocking
both wheels of the other axle.
Do not jack the vehicle up more than 1.2 in (30
mm) between the tire and the surface. Otherwise,
the vehicle may tip over and may cause serious
injury or death to you or others.
Precautions when changing a wheel:
For the torque, refer to
"Installing a wheel ";
Do not damage, grease or oil wheel bolts or their
threads.
WARNING!
Do not change wheels on either steep uphill or
downhill grades. The vehicle may begin to move
and fall from the jack which could cause personal
injury and property damage.

WHAT TO DO IN EMERGENCIES 211
6
TOWING THE VEHICLE
*Vehicle Type 2500 only
WARNING!
Do not tow the vehicle if the key cannot be turned
in the ignition lock.
If the key cannot be turned, the ignition lock re-
mains locked and the vehicle cannot be steered.
With the engine not running there is no power
assistance for the braking and steering systems.
In this case, it is important to keep in mind that a
considerably higher degree of effort is necessary
to brake and steer the vehicle.
The vehicle must not be towed with the front axle
raised and the key in position 2 in the ignition
lock as the drive wheels could then lock due to the
acceleration skid control (ASR) or the optional
Electronic Stability Program (ESP)
*.

MAINTAINING YOUR VEHICLE
7
CONTENTS

Engine Compartment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215


Sprinter Original Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217


Service Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Disposal of Service Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218


Emission Related Component Warranty
Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218


Regular Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Windshield Washer System Fluid Reservoir . 219
Air Filter Restriction Indicator (Optional) . . . 219
Engine Oils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Engine Oil Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Ribbed V-Belt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Hydraulic Brake System, Clutch
Mechanism Fluid Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Brake fluid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Engine Cooling System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Engine Coolant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Checking Coolant Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224


Winter Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226


Batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Disconnecting the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Reconnecting the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Charging the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228


Replacing Wiper Blades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Appearance Care and Corrosion Protection . 231
Power Washer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Automatic Car Wash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Tar Stains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Paintwork, Painted Body Components . . . . . . 233
Engine Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Vehicle Washing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Ornamental Moldings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

214 MAINTAINING YOUR VEHICLE

Headlamps, Taillamps, Identification Lamps,
Turn Signal Lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Reversing Aid Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Window Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Wiper Blade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Light Alloy Wheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Instrument Cluster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Steering Wheel and Gear Selector Lever . . . . 236
Cup Holder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Seat Belts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Headliner and Shelf Below Rear Window . . . 237
Upholstery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Hard Plastic Trim Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Plastic and Rubber Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238


Electrical Fuses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Standard Fuse and Relay Equipment . . . . . . . 239
Relay Assignment, Standard Equipment . . . . 242
Fuse and Relay Optional Equipment . . . . . . . 242


Bulb Replacement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Front Lamp Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Taillamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
License Plate Lamps
(Cargo/Passenger Vans Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Additional Brake Lamp
(Cargo/Passenger Vans Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Side-Mounted Turn Signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Side-Marker Lamps,
Standing Lamps (Optional) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Identification Lamps (Cargo/
passenger vans only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Interior Lighting in Passenger Compartment
and Load Compartment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Interior Lighting with Reading Lamp . . . . . . . 255
Interior Lighting with Interior Sensor
Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Exit Lamps (Optional) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256


Capacities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Recommended Fluids and Lubricants . . . . . . 258

216 MAINTAINING YOUR VEHICLELegend For Engine Compartment
1. Windshield washer system fluid reservoir.
2. Maintenance indicator for air cleaner element (Optional).
3. Oil dipstick.
4. Oil filler neck.
5. Ribbed V-belt. Auxiliary drive (Optional) refer to “Auxiliary
drive“. 6. Fuel filter with water separator.
7. Hydraulic brake fluid reservoir.
8. Coolant reservoir.
9. Battery
The auxiliary battery is located underneath the
front passenger seat (optional equipment).
10. Fuse box (These special fuses should only be replaced at by
an authorized Sprinter Dealer).